People who major in English and other fields in the humanities
also appear to enroll in medical schools at greater rates
than other majors. According to the most recent data from the
Association of American Medical Colleges, 46% of humanities
majors who applied to US med schools ended up enrolling, compared
to just 38% of biological science majors and 44% of physical
science majors.

Humanities majors also boasted the highest MCAT scores of all
applicants, Zippia found. (It is worth noting that just over
1,900 humanities majors applied to med schools last school year,
compared to more than 28,000 biological science majors.)

So why do English majors seem to have an edge? While some
speculate that majoring in English leads to a higher GPA and
a more impressive resume, that likely isn't the case.

"Consider for a moment the work ethic that an English major must
possess to major in something other than a pre-requisite heavy
field, and then to ace the MCAT," David Luther of Zippia wrote.
"Med schools do consider your narrative, medical work experience,
and leadership.

"All things equal, a candidate who demonstrates passion for med
school admissions is more likely to maintain sanity through the
rigors of medical college."

James Pierce, a second-year medical student at the Case Western
Reserve University School of Medicine, told Business Insider
that studying English has benefited him in his
post-graduate career.

"English is all about studying how to
communicate," said Pierce, who decided he wanted to pursue
medicine three years into his undergraduate studies at the
University of California-Davis. "Doctors tell people what
they need to know and need to express it in a way that
everyone can understand."

"A lot of doctors get stuck saying too much
jargon, and I think on the other side a lot of doctors
maybe say too little and don't address people's concerns, because
they dismiss the details of what they're trying to describe as
too complicated. I hope that having an English background
will help me balance those two."